Riders explain their decision to race in Saudi Arabia

March 26, 2022

Friday’s day at the Saudi Arabian GP took longer than expected after the missile attack on an Aramco oil plant (F1 sponsor) less than 20 kilometers from the Jeddah circuit.

The gigantic smoke screen emerged during the first practice session after an attack by the Houthis, a Yemeni insurgent group in a historic conflict with Saudi Arabia, and the second practice, FP2, took place after a small emergency meeting between the teams and Formula 1.

However, on the night of Jeddah, two other meetings took place, and while the FIA and F1 quickly convinced the team directors, the drivers’ meeting dragged on for four hours and did not end until around half past two. in the morning.

Finally, after hearing from F1 bosses, their team managers and the Saudi authorities, the Formula 1 Drivers’ Association (GPDA) agreed to continue racing and there will be a Saudi Grand Prix.

This Saturday morning, after Formula 1 made the decision official, the drivers’ association wanted to explain its point of view and its threat to boycott the race.

“Yesterday was a difficult day for Formula 1 and a stressful day for us Formula 1 drivers,” the GPDA statement begins.

“Perhaps it’s hard to understand if you’ve never driven an F1 car on this fast and challenging track in Jeddah, but seeing the smoke from the incident, it was hard to remain a fully focused driver and erase natural human concerns.”

In addition, the GPDA explained why the meeting lasted so long, and that is that only the promises of the Saudi authorities about the protection they will have on the circuit were enough to finally convince them.

“A wide range of views were shared and debated and, after listening not only to senior Formula 1 officials but also to Saudi government ministers explaining how security measures were being raised to the maximum, the result was a resolve that we would do practice and qualifying today and the race tomorrow”.

“Therefore we hope that the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be remembered as a good race and not because of the incident that took place yesterday.”

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Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images

Mohammed bin Sulayem, President, FIA, Stefano Domenicali, CEO, Formula 1, hold a Press Conference to confirm that the event will proceed as planned in the wake of a missile attack on Jeddah

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Mohammed bin Sulayem, President of the FIA, and Stefano Domenicali, General Manager of Formula 1, hold a press conference to confirm that the event will go ahead after the missile attack on Jeddah